A Woman Made for Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

maintenance. Jennelle’s room was the first slated for transformation and received a fresh coat of paint and preparations for new wallpaper the following afternoon. Until the fumes from the newly enhanced walls diminished, Jennelle agreed to sleep in the spare bed located in Aimee’s room.
    “Whatever do you want, Millie?” Aimee asked, yawning. She stretched and sat up, causing waves of gold to tumble all around her.
    “I was only wondering if you might be interested in . . . some nourishment,” Millie murmured weakly. She had been famished for what seemed to be hours.
    “Millie! I just knew this was going to happen,” Aimee grunted, falling back against her pillow. “I warned you, and you didn’t listen. You would not be starving right now if you had partaken of dinner. Your fast was a mockery, and everyone knew it.”
    “I was not fasting per se, Aimee. I was just vexed. And I still am. It is not fair, I tell you,” Millie said reluctantly as she dramatically slumped onto a nearby velvet settee.
    “Well, I think it is irrational for you to be the one fasting over Jennelle’s shortened Season with us. If anyone should be starving in protest, it is she.”
    “I’m not starving,” came a voice from under a pillow.
    Millie huffed. “That is only because of your good nature, Jennelle. It was up to me to protest your leaving, and so I did. Besides, a monthlong Season is unreasonable.”
    “And this coming from the one who didn’t believe in having a Season in the first place,” the still muffled voice replied.
    Millie shrugged, undisturbed by Jennelle’s retort. “I just believe that if you are going to do something, do it right. The Season lasts from now until June. That’s just over three months. It’s practically a crime, Jennelle, that you are allowed to experience only half of it. Aimee, you, too, should have been fasting with me to persuade Lord Gent to change his mind.”
    “Would not have worked. My father would still have left, never having noticed.” Jennelle’s father, Lord Gent, was an avid researcher and had traveled to Town to purchase several books on medieval England. Disliking staying in London for any length of time at all, he had dined with his daughter at Hembree Grove, made polite but quick conversation, and then left. Lady Chaselton invited him to stay at least one night, but he had been adamant about starting his journey home immediately. Soon after he was assured Jennelle had settled in well with the Wentworths, her father had left for his country estate.
    Aimee sat upright and looked her friend directly in the eye. “Millie, I truly love your dramatic soul, but do you not think you are being even slightly ridiculous? I mean, Lord Gent did allow her to stay for six weeks.”
    “But with only one new dress. It is dreadful,” Millie replied, refusing to succumb to Aimee’s censure.
    “What need do I have for new gowns? I have no intention of capturing anyone’s notice,” Jennelle replied. She lifted her pillow and looked directly at Millie. “And I thought neither did you.”
    Aimee nodded her head and joined Jennelle’s line of questioning. “Indeed, was it not you, Millie, who convinced us to delay our coming-out these past two years?”
    Millie stood up and waved her hands, downplaying Aimee’s question. “Oh, I still have no intention of agreeing to any type of commitment—especially with the dandies and fribble we’re likely to encounter. And if I could have delayed this demand of my father’s, Aimee, I would have. But now that our coming-out is a fait accompli, I have decided that it need not all be dreadful. Imagine the adventures we could have here and nowhere else.” Millie began spinning about the room with her arms held out to her sides.
    Those who assumed Millie Aldon’s personality corresponded with her physical characteristics—petite, ladylike, and soft-spoken—usually found themselves either befuddled and confused, or enjoying lively conversation